


Whitless

by Medie



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Other, X-Men First Class Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-13
Updated: 2011-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-21 08:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's the magnetic fields," Erika says, simmering satisfaction as she tips her face to the sky. "They're tied to my emotional state and, moody bitch that I am, are in constant flux."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whitless

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anon meme prompt that, at present, I have lost. Basically Erika scares the students, delights Charles (when she isn't terrifying him too) and, yeah, he's so doomed.

Sometimes, he can't read her. Oh, most of the time he can, to be sure, but there are other, rarer times when she's almost a complete blank. Times when he has just a weak sense of her, when all he can feel of Erika is the barest, faintest trace of her presence despite the fact she's right there at his side.

"It's the magnetic fields," Erika says, simmering satisfaction as she tips her face to the sky. "They're tied to my emotional state and, moody bitch that I am, are in constant flux."

"Theoretically," Charles says, distracted. "We'll need more data to be sure."

" _Data_ ," she sniffs. "To tell me something I already know? Really, Charles, haven't you noticed?" Leaning over, she taps his forehead lightly before trailing her fingertip down his nose. It's a blatant ploy, they both know that, but they both know it works too. "You live in your head too much."

He chuckles. "You'd be the first one to say it." Which isn't precisely true, but Erika approves of a little deception now and then and, truth be told, she's not wrong. Lately he's been living in his head more than ever--lurid fantasies of her giving him little incentive to do anything else.

"Mm, no I wouldn't," she stretches, arms over her head.

" _Erika_."

The smile she turns on him is anything but innocent, wide and wicked, and he swallows hard. Which seems to be the reaction she's going for--which brings to mind images of pigtails and inkwells dance through her thoughts and set his cheeks to flame, or so it feels. Charles is beginning to think she was set on this earth to torment him and, he knows, that thought should bother him more than it does.

"So many dark corners and secret hideaways," Erika says, looking up at the mansion now. "We're going to have trouble with that." Her eyes go from the mansion to Hank and Raven, sitting together beneath one of the trees, but the smile tugging at her lips isn't for them and Charles turns away before the red in his cheeks can betray his thoughts any further than they already have.

"Yes, I've been thinking just that," he manages, forcing his thoughts away from lean lines and long legs. The same ones that have taunted his every dream, teasing him with what he dare not ask for and might willingly die to have.

"Mm, always thinking." She moves away, rolling her shoulders beneath the thin t-shirt she's wearing. She hasn't gone far when he hears her laugh, the kind of soft satisfaction that terrifies and thrills him in equal turns, and Charles looks back to see Alex making tracks in the other direction.

"You scare them."

He means it to be chiding, but the grin Erika throws back at him is delighted and he finds himself returning it. "Good. Fear helps."

"Fear paralyses."

"Only for a while," she says, her voice quieting. "You get used to it and, eventually, you even learn to use it. They have a lifetime of fear waiting for them, Charles, they might as well get used to it now."

 _So should you_.

For a moment her thoughts are blazingly clear in his mind, sharp-edged with her ever-present fury, and Charles hears the echoes of agony beneath it all.

He reaches for her before his head can clear, but she dodges the touch with ease. If he didn't know her like he does, he might not even realize it's intentional.

"Erika."

"They're never going to accept us, Charles. Not even you." She turns around and he's surprised by the pain in her eyes. Not scorn. It isn't what he was expecting and, now, it makes his heart turn over. She's felt enough agony for a lifetime, he never ever wants to contribute to the weight bearing her shoulders down. "Nothing is secret from you. That's a vulnerability they can't allow. They'll lock you away some day, Charles, and if you're very, very lucky, they'll forget you even exist."

He starts to say they won't let it happen, that people will see reason, but can't. Truth be told, he knows just what kind of horrors humanity can produce, or conceal, in even the most innocent of circumstance. Not daring to mention that now, he offers a hopefully confident grin instead. "At least until you rode to my rescue."

She doesn't smile right away, but her eyes warm. "And what makes you think that I would?"

"Because not doing so would mean passing up an opportunity to prove me wrong." Charles shakes his head. "You'd _never_ do that."

"Don't be so sure," Erika says, just a hint of a smile at the edges of her lips. "I get so many opportunities." With a wink, she turns round and starts walking away once more. Charles isn't at all sure where Hank got those damnable sweats, but the sight of Erika in them improves his opinion of the things immensely.

"You wound me," he calls after her, laughing.

"Maybe if you're a very good boy I might!"

He's just going to pretend that idea doesn't excite him one whit.

Unfortunately, for all his powers, Charles Xavier has never been good at pretending.


End file.
